Advertising device



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1., J. W. KNELL.

ADVERTISING DEVIU No. 346,924. Patented Aug. 10, 1886.

(No Model.)

. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. W. KVNELL.

ADVERTISING nnvwg.

Patented Aug. 10, 1886.

N. PETERS. Photo-Lilhugnpher, Washinglon, D. C.

To all whom it may concern:

NITED' STATES ATENT @Fricn.

ADVERTISING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 346,924, dated August 10, 1886.

Application filed October 19, 1885. Serial No. 160,281. (No model.)

Be it known that I, JAMES \V. KNELL, of

I Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Advertising Devices, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, where Figure l is a perspective view of my improved device in use. Fig. 2 is a diagram View illustrating the method of combining and arranging the several working parts of the device; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail, in perspective -view, of the basket, hood, and transparency.

The object of my invention is to provide a device for drawing the attention of a great number of people at the same time to a screen or transparency on which is displayed any subject-matter in the shape of pictures or words; and my invention consists in the combination of a balloon or the like aerostat with a transparency or the like'device suspended below the balloon, and a lamp with its rays thrown downward on or through the transparency,and in details of the combination and arrangement of the parts, as is more par ticularly hereinafter describedand claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter a denotes a balloon of ordinary material and construction; I), the basket; 0, the transparency, which consists of asheet of any desirable material and outline, but preferably circular in outline. This transparency, which may well be of cloth or of paper, is held in an extended and substantially flat condition by means of a frame and cross-lies, that may be of wood or iron, and to which it is secured. This transparency is connected to the basket or lower part of the balloon by means of stays, which run from the outer frame, 0, and also from such points in the cross-frame as is necessary to support the transparency in a substantially horizontal plane below the balloon. The means of connecting this transparency may be of flexible material, as cloth or the like, that forms a hood of a conical shape, the larger end of the cone being turned downward, and this hood is preferably of opaque material.

The basket of the balloon may be large enough to support one or more persons, and

also alight, which is preferably an electric lamp, and a stereopticon, the latter being so arranged that pictures or printed matter may be displayed upon the transparency. My idea is to anchor such a balloon by means of a cable or rope so that the balloon will be suspended at a great distance above a place which is about the center of a more orless thickly populated district, and to display on the transparency attached to the balloon one or more advertisements. The light used will be sufficiently strong to thoroughly light up the device, and the figures or letters will be, of course, of a size proportioned to the distance of the balloon above the ground, so that the matter can be readily distinguished by speetators from below. I prefer to use an electric light, d, that is operated from a dynamo, 0, near the anchoring-station, the conductingwires being connected to the anchor-ropef; and in order to have the device operative without requiring the presence of any personin the basket'of the balloon, or to render my invention applicable to a smaller size of'balloon that is not capable of supporting the weight of a person, I make use of a lantern with a slide moved past the lens by means of the mechanism 9, that consists of the ordinary striking-gear of a clock held by means of a pawl. This pawl is connected to the armature of an electro-magnet, k, that is operated by the current in the light-wire t',coiled about the core. As soon as the circuit is opened to light the lamp the armature will be attracted toward the magnet and the mechanism put in operation to move the slide past the lens with a speed depending on the adjustment of the clock-work.

Instead of using a'transparency, I may make use of an opaque screen in which openings are out in the form of letters, and as this will be unchangeable in any one screen, I make use of a lantern only, the light from which is reflected downward through the openings in the screen. The result is, that the words will be shown in letters of light to the spectators below, and will produce an effect sufficiently startling to cause extended comment.

I claim as my invention 1. In combination with aballoon or the like aerostat, the conical hood suspended from said aeroslat with the larger end downward, a screen or transparency extended over said larger end, and means for directing rays of light upon said screen to display signs and vertisements thereon, as set forth.

2. In combination with a balloon or like aerostat, the conical hood of opaque material suspended from said aerostat with the larger end downward, a screen or transparency extended over said larger end, and means for directing rays of light upon said screen to display signs and advertisements, as set forth.

3. In combination with a balloon orthelike aerostat, a transparency suspended below the 

